Chapter Summaries

After receiving the Dark Dragon’s second inheritance, Brando explained why Seberus had shown him a vision of the endless war threatening civilization. He concluded that the Circle of Unity had come to Breath of Milos to awaken a sealed being: Surash, the Awakening God.

• Seberus told Brando that he had passed the trial and urged him to take the Dark Dragon’s second inheritance from his chest.
• Brando recounted Seberus’s warning to Veronica, Prince Lainaret, Aloz, and the others, then showed them the burned hand bearing the inheritance.
• Brando argued that Seberus had left Odin to preserve secrets connected to the war against the Twilight and suggested something was sealed in Breath of Milos.
• Brando realized that Anlek and the Cultists were determined to reach Breath of Milos because they intended to awaken Surash, the Awakening God.

Constance questioned the Empire’s nobles about the defeat in Eluin and focused on the rumored Azure Spear, while Duke Helix and Count Rodney decided to find Count Tonigell. In Dead Frost Forest, Brando connected an old diary’s account of a mysterious god near Audape to their search, and Aloz pressed Sta to explain what he knew.

• Sethi delivered candles through the streets of the Gray Capital as the Kirk Family’s Grey Knights rode toward Saint Conti Palace.
• Constance dismissed the nobles’ debate over the southern defeat, asked who had authorized William’s fleet and who Count Tonigell was, and assigned her ministers to investigate the Azure Spear.
• Duke Helix warned Count Rodney that their families could face the queen’s displeasure and said they needed to find Count Tonigell.
• Brando told Veronica and Shido about a diary describing a silver-skinned deity seen near Audape decades earlier, a mystery later associated with Dead Frost Forest.
• Aloz grabbed Sta by the ear and demanded an explanation, and Sta began to tell them what he knew.

The Broken Sword Knight Order fought off winter wolves as the stag led them to a glacier blocking their route north. Freya chose to lead a counterattack, with Nemesis carrying the flag, and the knights prepared to charge.

• The Broken Sword Knight Order battled a pack of winter wolves while following the stag through the Ice Forest.
• Blund, Freya, and Xiao Peiluo considered how to get around the glacier, while Aleya questioned their decision to trust the stag.
• Freya ordered the group to break through the wolves and seek Brando and Lady Veronica if possible.
• Nemesis took the battle flag from Freya and told her to give the orders.
• Freya directed the knights to form around the flag and advance, then called them to charge.

Brando connected Shta’s account of a fiery pillar to Spiral Hall and realized Anlek might be heading there without passing through the Temple of the Hibernator’s central Time Seal. After weighing his doubts against the group’s trust, he decided to lead them toward the location and prepare to leave.

• Aloz pressured Shta until he recalled seeing a pillar of fire rise in the northeastern sky around the Year of Thunder for half a year.
• Brando recognized the direction as Spiral Hall and told Veronica and the others that Anlek might bypass the maze, though he knew a shortcut to the suspected destination.
• Brando hesitated because Spiral Hall seemed thoroughly explored, but Shido, Lainaret, and Veronica urged him to trust his judgment.
• Brando agreed to do his best and told Medisa to check on the siblings so they could leave together.
• Brando worried that the group would face battles in the dungeon, while the Cruzian nobles whispered among themselves and his confidence fell.

Marquis Yuxi tracked the retreating Cruzian knights through the winter forest with his undead powers and wolf pack. Freya and the Broken Sword Knight Order followed a deep-blue stag along the glacier and reached a misty gorge as the wolves closed in.

• Marquis Yuxi learned from a winter wolf that the Cruzian knights had fled north, then sent his pack to hunt them.
• Yuxi followed the wolves’ trail of corpses and discovered the knights’ footprints leading into the Elsen Black Pine Forest.
• Freya and the Broken Sword Knight Order struggled along the icy glacier path while the winter wolves advanced through the forest behind them.
• The group spotted wolves at the forest’s edge, and Aleya and Blund argued as they continued following the deep-blue stag.
• Rolo noticed the stag stop at the ice wall, and the group found a long, narrow gorge veiled in mist.

The Broken Sword Knight Order entered White Gorge, where Freya proposed ambushing Marquis Yuxi to stop the winter wolves. The knights hid in the ice walls as Yuxi and his pack reached the canyon, but Freya realized the wolf pack was far larger than she had expected.

• The Broken Sword Knight Order debated whether to scout the maze-like canyon after the stag disappeared inside.
• Freya proposed ambushing Marquis Yuxi, arguing that killing the wolf pack’s commander could end the pursuit.
• Xiao Peiluo raised the danger posed by the silver monster, leaving Freya’s plan uncertain.
• Yuxi learned that the Cruz Knights had entered White Gorge and ordered the winter wolves to chase them through it.
• The Broken Sword Knights concealed themselves above the canyon and watched the pack pass Yuxi, while Freya frowned at its enormous size.

Freya and the Cruzian knights ambushed Marquis Yuxi, killing him and sending the winter wolves into disarray. Although the pack began to scatter, Freya remained uneasy about the silver monster and suspected they had overlooked something.

• Freya, Nemesis, and Xiao Peiluo’s forces drew Yuxi into their ambush and opened fire with their magic bows.
• Yuxi tried to escape through the winter wolves, but an arrow pinned his leg and the knights’ second volley killed him.
• Freya ordered Blund and Aleya to hold off the charging wolves while Rolo prepared the archers’ next volley.
• After Yuxi fell, the winter wolves lost their coordination and began fleeing, allowing the Cruzian knights to repel their remaining attacks.
• Freya urged the group to leave because she feared the silver monster might be nearby, and Nemesis asked whether her premonition meant they had missed something.

Freya and the Cruz Knights were ambushed by invisible Pale Children after confirming Yuxi's death, and the squad was driven into a desperate fight. Freya realized the monsters had come from the Temple of the Hibernator, but a shrill laugh revealed that the silver monster was still nearby as the chapter ended.

• A Cruz Knight squad found Yuxi dead, then encountered silver-maned monsters surrounding them in the canyon.
• The Pale Children attacked using invisibility, and Nemesis killed one after Freya's Empress of Wind Half-Plate shielded her from its bite.
• Freya, Blund, and Aleya fought their way through the scattered Broken Sword Knights while trying to regroup.
• Freya deduced that the glacier was the outer wall of the Temple of the Hibernator and that the Pale Children had come from inside it.
• A voice praised Freya's perceptiveness, and Freya warned Blund that danger was behind him.

After Blund was impaled by the silver monster, Freya regained her composure and rallied the Broken Sword Knight Order while Nemesis and Aleya held the creature back. She then made a desperate move that separated her from the others, leaving Nemesis realizing Freya had deceived her as the monster rushed toward the commander.

• The silver monster stabbed Blund from behind, and Aleya charged it until Freya ordered him to return.
• Nemesis deflected the monster’s attack and joined Aleya, while Freya declared that Blund could still be saved.
• Freya ordered Nemesis and Aleya to hold the monster back, then sounded the Broken Sword Knight Order’s horn and called the scattered knights to regroup.
• Freya raised the makeshift battle flag and turned toward the bottom of the valley, prompting Blund to shout a warning to Aleya.
• The monster raised a mercury-like curtain between Nemesis and Aleya, then struck them aside as it rushed toward Freya.

Freya escaped the silver monster by leaping onto a Pale Child and riding it across the battlefield, planting her war flag at the bottom of the valley. After the Pale Child collapsed from exhaustion, she found herself stranded with the silver monster closing in and had to find a way to survive.

• Freya evaded a Pale Child's attack, mounted it, and held on as it raced away from the silver monster.
• Freya rode the Pale Child to the valley floor and planted her war flag, but lost and shattered the Broken Sword Knight Order's horn.
• Freya kept the Pale Child running by stabbing it with her dagger when it tried to throw her off.
• The Pale Child collapsed in a broad valley, throwing Freya into a snowdrift and dying from exhaustion.
• Freya saw the silver monster approaching and realized she could not outrun it, so she searched for another way to escape.

Freya lured the silver monster away from her companions and fought it in the valley, hoping the stone tablet Brando gave her could help. After the tablet failed to respond, she awakened her Valkyrie Mark and triggered an avalanche with the Ruby Ring and six Explosion Crystals, but the monster sprouted wings and could fly.

• Freya found the stone tablet undamaged but could not make it respond, then decided to stand and face the pursuing monster.
• The silver monster knocked Freya into the snow, but she dodged its follow-up attacks and awakened her Valkyrie Mark, gaining golden wings and greater speed.
• Freya flew toward the cliff, circled behind the monster, and used the Ruby Ring's fireball to crack the rock supporting the snow.
• Freya's six Explosion Crystals detonated, causing an avalanche of snow and ice to rush toward the silver monster.
• The silver monster transformed strips from its back into wings and took flight, leaving Freya alarmed.

Freya sacrificed herself to stop the silver monster and was nearly killed when the avalanche buried them both. After the monster returned and attacked her, Freya's Lionheart Sword ignited it with golden flames, revealing that the War Goddess Mark had awakened.

• Freya flew into the silver monster and delayed it long enough for the avalanche to bury them both.
• The Broken Sword Knight Order rallied against the Pale Children, and the summoned creatures collapsed into black smoke when Freya's Communication Crystal went dark.
• Freya crawled out of the snow with severe injuries, while the silver monster survived and tracked her down.
• The silver monster pinned Freya and began draining her life, but paused to examine the stone tablet that fell from her pouch.
• Freya stabbed the monster with the Lionheart Sword, which burst into golden flames and set the monster ablaze.
• The monster cried out about the War Goddess Mark as the flames spread, and the stone tablet shone brightly beside Freya.

Brando’s group traveled through the Frostflow Passage toward the Temple of the Hibernator, where he hoped to encounter the Twilight Twins. After Aloz charged at a Twilight Wolf in Trap Hall, a flood of lightning struck her and left the group facing the trap’s danger.

• Brando explained his familiarity with the ancient corridor by claiming he had read about it in a book, and Shido supported his account.
• Aloz stopped at a broken stone door and ordered Sta to open it, revealing a vast hall.
• A black Twilight Wolf rammed Sta, and Brando recognized it as Mel and realized the group had entered Trap Hall.
• Aloz charged at Mel, triggering thousands of bolts of cyan lightning that engulfed her.

Aloz claimed credit for defeating Melfis as part of her coming-of-age trial, while Mephisto and Veronica killed Maen and divided its spoils. Brando’s party found the Flowing Hand, but Melfis’s fall into the abyss had likely taken its matching Rewinding Disc with him.

• Aloz said that killing a Twilight Species stronger than herself would qualify her for her coming-of-age examination, and she planned to claim credit for Melfis’s death.
• A messenger told Brando that Mephisto and Veronica had killed Maen, and Veronica kept its high-grade Magic Crystal for the Empire.
• Brando declined Maen’s blood and asked Firas to retrieve any hidden loot from its claw.
• Firas’s touch released the golden pocket watch called the Flowing Hand, a sub-divine artifact that required the missing Rewinding Disc to form a complete set.
• Brando realized Aloz’s slap had sent Melfis into the abyss with the Rewinding Disc, leaving him with a dangerous half-artifact.

Kouhua awakened from her ancient slumber but refused to join Anlek’s plans for war, so he trapped her and revealed he held a fragment of her soul. Meanwhile, Brando’s party found the glacier strangely empty, learned that Yalta had been guided there by an unknown force, and Brando suspected the Blue Shadow or Awakening God was drawing them into a trap.

• Blood from the black-robed corpses revived Kouhua, who told Anlek she wanted to leave rather than take part in another war.
• Anlek refused to let Kouhua go, trapped her behind a magical barrier, and showed her a fragment of her soul.
• Brando’s party crossed the empty lower White Gorge, where the expected frostbitten giant worms were nowhere to be seen.
• Brando spoke with Saint Osore and learned that Ankeli and Evan had awakened through the hunter siblings’ tokens, while Yalta remembered being guided by a voice and seeing the Blue Shadow.
• Brando connected the Blue Shadow and the mysterious guiding voice to Kouhua’s possible split personality and suspected the Awakening God was luring the party into a trap.

Brando led the party into the Eternal Annihilation Plaza, where thousands of Ice Breath blocked the way to the Spiral Hall. He set out to lure them away, but Aloz, Sta, Charles, and Qian followed and joined a bet over who would reach the finish first.

• The party crossed the glacier, entered a hidden cave, and found the ancient temple and Eternal Annihilation Plaza inside the mountain.
• Veronica warned that the thousands of Ice Breath would be dangerous to fight, and Brando volunteered to lure them away so the group could reach the Spiral Hall before Anlek and the others.
• Medisa, Veronica, and the Little Female Dragon objected, but Brando persuaded them to let him try and chose Charles to accompany him.
• Qian followed Brando despite his request that she wait, and Aloz and Sta also joined the group heading into the plaza.
• Brando explained the Ice Breath's detection range and attack patterns, then challenged Aloz to a speed bet with the Dragon Heart as his desired prize.
• Aloz, Sta, Charles, and Qian each agreed to join the bet, leaving Brando surprised by their chosen stakes.

Grand Duke Anlek’s group crossed the Corridor of Meditation with Quhoa and reached the gate to Spiral Hall, while Brando used his knowledge of the Ice Breaths to lead them through the plaza during his wager with Aloz. Anlek sent Dejar to investigate a passage leading to Eternal Annihilation Plaza as the story left both groups at their next obstacle.

• Quhoa told Anlek that the Corridor of Meditation held the remains of a battle between the Seraphim and Fenrir’s descendants, ended when Milos activated the Central Core.
• Anlek asked Quhoa’s forgiveness for his earlier offense, and she accepted without showing emotion.
• Aloz forbade Brando from using items during their wager, but Brando used a route known from past player experience to navigate the Ice Breaths and draw them after him.
• Brando reached the eastern exit and called on Charles to help him pass the two giant Ice Breaths guarding it.
• Anlek’s group reached the gate to Spiral Hall, and Anlek ordered Dejar to investigate the passage to Eternal Annihilation Plaza after Quhoa said Menne’s brothers had escaped that way.

Freya awoke in a hidden valley, where the Triffid Fae led her to Milondar, the first Frost Giant, who revealed that he had brought her and her companions there to ask for her help. Milondar asked Freya to stop him from resurrecting, warning that a great Will was awakening and that the fate of Vonder could no longer be rewritten.

• Freya awoke in a mountain hollow and met a Triffid Fae, who said its master had brought her there and ordered it to treat her as a Little Prince.
• The Triffid Fae led Freya through a white-thorn forest, where she recognized the deep-blue stag that had guided her companions the previous night.
• Freya entered a hidden room beyond an ice wall, where an unseen host served her tea and explained that he wanted her help.
• The host introduced himself as Milondar, or Milos, and revealed that he was the first Frost Giant, now a delusion left behind after his death.
• Milondar asked Freya to stop him from resurrecting and warned that a great Will was awakening, threatening an unpredictable fate for Vonder.

Brando escaped the plaza by drawing the giant animated spells and Ice Breaths after him, then redirected the horde toward Dejar and the Circle of Unity knights. As Dejar outran him and Brando warned him to watch what was ahead, the danger facing them remained unresolved.

• Brando raced through the gap between the giant animated spells and escaped Eternal Annihilation Plaza while Ice Breaths pursued him.
• Veronica watched Brando’s escape and admired his skill, while the Cruzian nobles reconsidered their earlier arrogance.
• Brando spotted Dejar and the Circle of Unity knights ahead, then led the pursuing animated spells and Ice Breaths toward them.
• Dejar ordered his knights to retreat, but Brando slowed them with a series of low-level spells as the monsters overtook them.
• Brando killed the knights who turned to fight, while Dejar resisted his spells and pulled ahead.
• Dejar taunted Brando for being unable to catch him, but Brando looked at him with pity and mouthed a warning about what lay ahead.

Brando negotiated with Dejar while the animated spells pursued them, and Dejar asked him to spare Duke Anlek. Meanwhile, Anlek and the Circle of Unity opened the gate to the Spiral Hall and encountered Milondar, the god of the Frost Giants.

• Brando hid beneath the Cloak of the King of Buni and persuaded Dejar to draw the animated spells away by asking what conditions he wanted.
• Dejar asked Brando to promise that Princess Griffine would spare Duke Anlek, but Brando refused to make that promise.
• Dejar charged ahead to lure the animated spells away and began stating another request to Brando.
• Kou Hua opened the obsidian gate, and Anlek explained that he sought to end civilization’s repeating cycles, driven partly by personal resentment.
• Anlek and the Circle of Unity entered the Spiral Hall and met Milondar, who warned them to turn back.